Rev. Dustin ParkerWho is the King of Glory? Our Master!
The King of Glory, Our Master
Matthew 25:14-20
† IN THE MASTER’S NAME! †
May you grasp the love, peace and mercy of the Father that is entrusted to you, as we wait for the revealing of the Son in all of His glory!
The King of Glory Sermons!
This sermon is the first of nine that seek to prepare you, to introduce you to the One who was, and who is, and who is to come. We’re not starting Advent early, but the way we end a church year is the same way we begin it – looking at the coming of Jesus! Not just His coming 2000 years ago, but also the Second Coming, the coming where He is revealed in all of Glory, and to help us realize, that when He comes, we are completely revealed as well.
The challenge is that we often think we know God, but I think sometimes we get knowing of Him confused with knowing Him. That struggle is seen in today’s gospel reading, the misnamed Parable of the Talents
I say it’s misnamed – because this passage is not about using your time, your talents, or your treasure. I wish I had time to show you how wrong that view is, how contrary it is to scripture. But I will leave you with this – this parable about the kingdom cannot be about stewardship – because since when does our Master leave us for a “long time?”
We are so wrong about this passage – primarily because we don’t understand the investment, the treasure of the talents (btw – one talent equals 20 years salary – 80 pounds of minted silver coins), and why they are disbursed in the way they are . We think it’s about ability, its not. It’s about the power of God evidenced in the lives of the men.
When we realize this, when we grasp that this parable is about the relationship between the Master and His servants, when we realize that what is deposited is God’s mercy, it turns this passage, and our understanding upside down. So much so, that the peace of God is revealed in a way beyond our imagination, beyond our ability to conceptualize, beyond our understanding
Which it is.
It’s about the Kyrie/Doulos relationship
Noblesse Oblige
The first challenge is understanding the relationship between a Master, or Lord as it is often translated, and a slave-servant. We often think of such relationships as one of authority and power, of submission and forced obedience. From the position of what the slave-servant owes the Master and Lord.
Yet in every covenant relationship in scripture, in every relationship described between God and His people, the burden lies far heavier on God, on the Lord Almighty. The French realizes this when they coined the term Noblesse Oblige – the Obligation of the Noble/Nobility. Noblesse Oblige is about the responsibility for the One to care for those for whom He is responsible, for those who are dependent upon Him. A remarkably high standard, one the Hebrews had a special word for – cHesed – one alternative translated as love’s kindness, and mercy.
The Lord and Master had an inherent obligation to care for His servants – an obligation based in the burden of responsibility and the very reason for the authority that was His by right.
Fear = Ignorance of the Master’s confidence
It is this aspect, this part of the nature of the Master, that the one slave/servant couldn’t fathom. He thought the investment was about the Master’s desire for “more”, more revenue, more riches, more, more, more. And that ignorance is what gave rise to his fear, to his anxiety.
His action was not based in apathy, or in inability, He was paralyzed by fear, by projecting onto the Master an attitude that was neither compassionate nor caring. He was afraid of the Master judging him by his works. He didn’t trust the Master’s own judgment regarding the his ability and his worth. He judged himself as worthless… and he condemned himself.
Do we live our lives in fear of God’s judgment of our actions? Or do we live them, realizing He has purchased us for a reason, and at great cost? Do we find the shame and the guilt which causes our fear appropriate for a God who valued us enough to send His son to die for us? Are we willing to neglect that investment in our lives? As the writer to Hebrews says,
2 If the old message delivered by the angels was valid and nobody got away with anything, 3 do you think we can risk neglecting this latest message, this magnificent salvation? First of all, it was delivered in person by the Master, then accurately passed on to us by those who heard it from him. 4 All the while God was validating it with gifts through the Holy Spirit, all sorts of signs and miracles, as he saw fit.
Hebrews 2:2-4 (MSG)
The other two servants do not let fear grab them, they simply accept what the Master entrusts to them - they honor His judgment of them and their dunamis – the power, the energy He has founded in them. If God believes you are capable of something, who has the better judgment – God or you?
He praises them for their faithfulness, not the results! He invites them to share in His joy! He invites them to grasp the kingdom of God in an even deeper way. An invitation that the apostles would later hear, that John wrote of in chapter 15:
15 I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. John 15:15 (NLT)
That is an invitation to you as well! This is the goal of the Father, the very mission of the Son, our entering into, our sharing in His joy. That mission required Him to pay the highest price to become our Lord. As Paul wrote to believers before us,
And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. Ephesians 1:13-14 (NLT)
So what is the talents/treasure invested in us doulos? What is the treasure?
This King that has come – that we are waiting for His return in all of His glory, had a goal, for us to be the children of God. It is to that end that He would entrust us with treasure beyond our ability to count.
I said already, that the “talents” are not those things we are usually told they are – the time we have, the gifts and abilities with which God has blessed us, and indeed our assets. Those things are cool, and it is good we use them in our serving God.
But the great treasure, that which we have been entrusted with, is that which the Spirit who abides in us brings – the very things that nourish our faith, that strengthen our trust in the Father, and in the work of Christ.
The great mercy of God which fills our lives, the answer to our prayer Lord have mercy on all those that worship here, on those we serve and minister. The mercy of God that guides and protects our lives and brings us comfort, and the knowledge that God values us, cares for us loves us.
The talent is that peace of God that calms us in the storms, that enables us to enter and stay in the joy of our Master, walking with Him, What the Master, the Father in Heaven calls us to invest is not our own talents and abilities, but the presence of the Spirit in our lives.
Though the parable talks of the Master leaving, that is why He never truly does, He walks with us, guides us, forgives us, strengthens us, uses us.
God is with Us….having mercy on us…
Our Lord, our Master, our Comforter, Savior, Defender…. And friend...
and we are His, purchased, bought cleansed, and at peace.
AMEN!
Matthew 25:14-20
† IN THE MASTER’S NAME! †
May you grasp the love, peace and mercy of the Father that is entrusted to you, as we wait for the revealing of the Son in all of His glory!
The King of Glory Sermons!
This sermon is the first of nine that seek to prepare you, to introduce you to the One who was, and who is, and who is to come. We’re not starting Advent early, but the way we end a church year is the same way we begin it – looking at the coming of Jesus! Not just His coming 2000 years ago, but also the Second Coming, the coming where He is revealed in all of Glory, and to help us realize, that when He comes, we are completely revealed as well.
The challenge is that we often think we know God, but I think sometimes we get knowing of Him confused with knowing Him. That struggle is seen in today’s gospel reading, the misnamed Parable of the Talents
I say it’s misnamed – because this passage is not about using your time, your talents, or your treasure. I wish I had time to show you how wrong that view is, how contrary it is to scripture. But I will leave you with this – this parable about the kingdom cannot be about stewardship – because since when does our Master leave us for a “long time?”
We are so wrong about this passage – primarily because we don’t understand the investment, the treasure of the talents (btw – one talent equals 20 years salary – 80 pounds of minted silver coins), and why they are disbursed in the way they are . We think it’s about ability, its not. It’s about the power of God evidenced in the lives of the men.
When we realize this, when we grasp that this parable is about the relationship between the Master and His servants, when we realize that what is deposited is God’s mercy, it turns this passage, and our understanding upside down. So much so, that the peace of God is revealed in a way beyond our imagination, beyond our ability to conceptualize, beyond our understanding
Which it is.
It’s about the Kyrie/Doulos relationship
Noblesse Oblige
The first challenge is understanding the relationship between a Master, or Lord as it is often translated, and a slave-servant. We often think of such relationships as one of authority and power, of submission and forced obedience. From the position of what the slave-servant owes the Master and Lord.
Yet in every covenant relationship in scripture, in every relationship described between God and His people, the burden lies far heavier on God, on the Lord Almighty. The French realizes this when they coined the term Noblesse Oblige – the Obligation of the Noble/Nobility. Noblesse Oblige is about the responsibility for the One to care for those for whom He is responsible, for those who are dependent upon Him. A remarkably high standard, one the Hebrews had a special word for – cHesed – one alternative translated as love’s kindness, and mercy.
The Lord and Master had an inherent obligation to care for His servants – an obligation based in the burden of responsibility and the very reason for the authority that was His by right.
Fear = Ignorance of the Master’s confidence
It is this aspect, this part of the nature of the Master, that the one slave/servant couldn’t fathom. He thought the investment was about the Master’s desire for “more”, more revenue, more riches, more, more, more. And that ignorance is what gave rise to his fear, to his anxiety.
His action was not based in apathy, or in inability, He was paralyzed by fear, by projecting onto the Master an attitude that was neither compassionate nor caring. He was afraid of the Master judging him by his works. He didn’t trust the Master’s own judgment regarding the his ability and his worth. He judged himself as worthless… and he condemned himself.
Do we live our lives in fear of God’s judgment of our actions? Or do we live them, realizing He has purchased us for a reason, and at great cost? Do we find the shame and the guilt which causes our fear appropriate for a God who valued us enough to send His son to die for us? Are we willing to neglect that investment in our lives? As the writer to Hebrews says,
2 If the old message delivered by the angels was valid and nobody got away with anything, 3 do you think we can risk neglecting this latest message, this magnificent salvation? First of all, it was delivered in person by the Master, then accurately passed on to us by those who heard it from him. 4 All the while God was validating it with gifts through the Holy Spirit, all sorts of signs and miracles, as he saw fit.
Hebrews 2:2-4 (MSG)
The other two servants do not let fear grab them, they simply accept what the Master entrusts to them - they honor His judgment of them and their dunamis – the power, the energy He has founded in them. If God believes you are capable of something, who has the better judgment – God or you?
He praises them for their faithfulness, not the results! He invites them to share in His joy! He invites them to grasp the kingdom of God in an even deeper way. An invitation that the apostles would later hear, that John wrote of in chapter 15:
15 I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. John 15:15 (NLT)
That is an invitation to you as well! This is the goal of the Father, the very mission of the Son, our entering into, our sharing in His joy. That mission required Him to pay the highest price to become our Lord. As Paul wrote to believers before us,
And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. Ephesians 1:13-14 (NLT)
So what is the talents/treasure invested in us doulos? What is the treasure?
This King that has come – that we are waiting for His return in all of His glory, had a goal, for us to be the children of God. It is to that end that He would entrust us with treasure beyond our ability to count.
I said already, that the “talents” are not those things we are usually told they are – the time we have, the gifts and abilities with which God has blessed us, and indeed our assets. Those things are cool, and it is good we use them in our serving God.
But the great treasure, that which we have been entrusted with, is that which the Spirit who abides in us brings – the very things that nourish our faith, that strengthen our trust in the Father, and in the work of Christ.
The great mercy of God which fills our lives, the answer to our prayer Lord have mercy on all those that worship here, on those we serve and minister. The mercy of God that guides and protects our lives and brings us comfort, and the knowledge that God values us, cares for us loves us.
The talent is that peace of God that calms us in the storms, that enables us to enter and stay in the joy of our Master, walking with Him, What the Master, the Father in Heaven calls us to invest is not our own talents and abilities, but the presence of the Spirit in our lives.
Though the parable talks of the Master leaving, that is why He never truly does, He walks with us, guides us, forgives us, strengthens us, uses us.
God is with Us….having mercy on us…
Our Lord, our Master, our Comforter, Savior, Defender…. And friend...
and we are His, purchased, bought cleansed, and at peace.
AMEN!
